Timing is Everything

NDG Food Depot in Jeopardy Just When it’s Needed Most

OpinionsKurt Weiss — Published April 2, 2013

Though the food bank has found a temporary home at River’s Edge Church and is expected to reopen April 15, their problems aren’t over quite yet.

The April 1 deadline came as a surprise to staff, putting the food bank on an even tighter deadline than originally thought.

“We had a verbal agreement to stay in place until the end of June,” intake coordinator Peter Butler told Global News last week.

But there is more to it than just that.

The bigger problem lies not only in the eviction of a fixture in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce community over the past two decades, but in the growing demand for food banks and the rising poverty rate in Montreal.

According to a recent joint report by World Vision and Citizens for Public Justice, the number of people using food banks in Montreal has gone up 32 per cent since 2008.

An average of 167,200 people, including 46,500 children, received monthly income support in 2012, according to the report. That accounts for one in 10 Montrealers who rely on social assistance for support.

The food bank helps 700 people each week and has been in the same location for 20 years, helping the less fortunate feel less socially isolated.

The timing of the depot’s forced relocation could not be worse.

It is a huge slap in the face not only for the NDG community but also for the issue of poverty in the city. Yet the interests of the food depot’s landlord and of the developer apparently come ahead of the city’s persisting poverty problem.

The construction of the McGill University Health Centre’s nearby hospital increases the demand for high-priced condos, like the ones that are already built right across the street from the NDG Food Depot.

Some staff at the depot speculated that the construction of the new hospital played a role in the surprise eviction, as property values will no doubt rise, making it a prime location for new development.

Where is the government in all of this? They have responsibilities through many social assistance programs and community resources, especially in major urban centres like Montreal.

And yet, the problem is getting worse, not better.

There has already been a petition asking Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum and NDG councillors to intervene. If cases like these continue to surface, the next step will be asking the province for help.

The public can only do so much in lobbying their councillors and other politicians to increase social assistance funding—at some point the government must take up the initiative.

Spending priority must come down to prioritizing the essentials of life: food, water and shelter. Employment and education also need to be included in these “need-to-dos” and the “nice-to-dos.”

As the demand for food banks grows, will the supply follow suit?